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Wort Cooler Catasrophie

H

Hawk3411

Hello... first, I am new to BeerSmith, so hi everyone.  Sorry to do this to you on my first visit, but I really need to vent.  I purchased a 30' copper Wort Cooler (I was going to make one, but the price of copper is through the roof) and I used it for the first time last night in an attempt to make a batch of beer... it didn't go so well.

I did everything I was supposed to do.  I gave the device a quick "once-over", I wiped it down to make sure no debris got into my wort, and I placed in the wort the last 15 minutes of my boil to sanitize.  After flame out, I attached the water hose to the fitting on the intake and started the water.  I was amazed at how fast it was bringing down the temp and everything seemed to be working fine.  I turned my back for a few minutes to get my ice chest ready (I use an ice chest with water to stabalize the temp on my primary) and my primary bucket when all of sudden, I hear water dumping out all over my wife's sparkly clean kitchen floor behind me.  :eek:

One of the clamps holding the hose to the copper was defective (had a short mistooled, deformed screw) and would only tighten the clamp a half turn of the screw and would let go after a few minutes.  Just my luck, when the clamp let go and the hose detached, all the water running through the copper dumped directly into my wort and overflowed my 8 gallon bucket... that's about 3 gallons of tap water diluting my wort and spilling boiled wort, hop residue, etc. all over the kitchen tile.

After pouring my entire batch down the drain, I had to move the refrigerator (that thing is a beast) because the diluted wort had ran under it during the incident.  My wife stood, tapping her foot, and watched while I cleaned... so much salt... so many wounds.  :'(

To top it all off, I had already popped the WYeast a few hours earlier and it looked like a softball, so the only usable ingredients I still have from that batch are my priming sugar, a nylon steeping bag, and a "Make Your Own Damn Beer!" bumper sticker.

I am going to go to Home Depot today and get a new clamp and I will reorder my ingredients for this batch that I intend to have ready by the time football starts.  At least I still have time.  :)

Thanks for letting me vent!

Hawk
 
Well Hawk, if it makes you feel any better, I 'd say that has got to be the worst brewing diaster without bodily injury that I have ever heard. :eek: Sorry to hear of the melt down.

I brew in my garage and the worst I ever had was the valve on my sparge water broke dumping about 5 gallons of 175 degree water over my lauter tun lid (yes, I was lucky enough to have the lid on ;)).

Hang in there.

Dr Malt
 
I am hanging in and doing much better now that I have come to terms with the ordeal.  Some have asked me why I don't brew in my garage... well, I live in Fort Worth, Texas and it is about 110° F in my garage.  Even the best wort coolers would have a problem with that heat.  I can't wait for November when the temp gets more reasonable for homebrewing.

Just so everyone knows... I did send an email to the supply folks (not demanding anything, just letting them know of the problem I had) and I have not received even a "sorry dude, that sucks" reply from them.  Not a peep.  Seeing as how much money I have spent, I would expect at least a reply.  I am certainly not ready to throw them under the bus as they have been extremelly reliable and fast as hell in their deliveries.

Oh well.  Water under the bridge.  Time to dust off and get back on the horse.

Hawk
 
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